A Meeting of Fate
by Kutlessrocker
Summary: John and Squall visit the world of Gran Pulse in order to check out a possible new power supply for Radiant Garden. What they didn't count on was the power source being alive. JohnxOerba Yun Fang Part 7 and mid-quel of the Hearts Series.


Author's Note: Here's a new entry into the Hearts Series. It's been a while since I've done anything related to this, but this particular story has been in the works for quite some time. It was requested by 16afoster, a longtime reader and reviewer of mine. This is basically how John met Fang. It doesn't elaborate their blooming romance, just how they first met and got to know each other. I don't know when/if I'll do one about the beginning of their romance since I'm currently preoccupied with an OCxOC relationship involving John at the moment. Either way, enjoy...

* * *

It had been nearly three years since my transformation into a Nobody. I was adjusting to that life very well. My powers had increased and I made many good friends along the way, even witnessing the destruction of Xehanort, the ultimate evil in the galaxy. I missed my old life as a human, but I knew that a more exciting one was just beginning.

I wasn't surprised when Squall asked me to go with him on a recon mission to the planet Gran Pulse. His ship felt a strange power spike after passing by the planet on his way back to Radiant Garden from the Keyblade Graveyard. He thought it might be a new energy source he could utilize to improve Radiant Garden's energy efficiency. We immediately set out to discover what caused the power spike.

Squall and I landed on the snow-covered surface next to a large temple carved into the mountains. "Is this the place," I asked.

"Yeah, the energy is coming from inside that temple," he said. "Let's go find it and take it back home."

We entered the temple. The walls were covered in old Pulsian writing and hieroglyphs from thousands of years ago. We were just outside the abandoned city of Oerba. I could literally feel the rich history behind all of these artifacts. It was a shame all of the inhabitants vanished hundreds of years ago.

We walked through the dark halls, following Squall's energy reading device. Eventually, we came to a large room and the device started to go crazy. Squall turned it off, seeing as we'd reached our destination. "Ok, look for anything suspicious," he said. "The energy source has to be somewhere in this room."

I walked around, looking for the energy source. I had nearly given up when I saw something I'd never seen before. It was the source of the energy, alright, but in a completely different form than I'd ever thought.

It was a large, blue crystal sculpture. At least, I thought it was a sculpture. It was translucent and in the shape of a naked woman. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and seemed to carry a life of its own. I placed my hand on her cheek and it surprisingly felt warm. She was standing with her hands folded in front of her chest and her head facing toward me. I looked into her eyes and admired the craftsmanship. Energy radiated from it and I was nearly overwhelmed. "Squall, I think I found it," I said. He ran over to me and saw the statue. "There is a strange energy coming from this statue."

Squall took a closer look and his eyes widened in shock. "John, that's not a statue," he said. "That's a l'Cie! That woman is a l'Cie who has been crystallized for completing her Focus!"

"She's a…what?" I asked. I didn't understand what he was talking about.

"On this world, and the world of Cocoon, there are beings called fal'Cie who rule the binary planets. They choose people at random to become l'Cie and give them a task to complete called a Focus. If they complete the Focus, they are given eternal life as a crystal. If they fail, they are turned into monsters called Cie'th. This woman must have completed her Focus in time."

"Well, will she ever wake up?" I asked. Eternal life didn't sound much like a reward if you had to spend it as a crystal.

Squall shook his head and looked down. "I've never heard of someone waking up from this stasis," he said. "Wait, what the…" Just as he said that, something began to happen.

The woman's crystal began to glow until we were blinded by the pure white light. I shielded my eyes until I could find a pair of UV blocking goggles in my bag and put them on. I witnessed a sight that was truly amazing. Slowly, the crystal changed into human skin. The woman's long, shaggy, black hair fell and clothes appeared on her. Her outfit was mainly blue and consisted of a black bra and a blue sash that wrapped from around her shoulder to her right hip and her waist, leaving her abdomen mostly exposed and creating a skirt. Her sandals reached to her knees and looked like some sort of leather armor. I caught her before she could collapse to the ground. She lay unconscious in my arms for a moment and I realized how truly beautiful she was. Slowly, her emerald eyes opened and her breathing picked up. "What…where am I?" she asked groggily. "Who…who are you? And where is the other girl who was with me?" She spoke with an accent similar to the Australians back on Earth.

"My name is John, and there was no other girl with you. My friend and I found only you," I said.

"But…but my friend, Vanille, was with me when we were changed into crystals! She can't have gone anywhere else!"

"Don't worry," I said. "If she's here, we'll find her. By the way, I never got your name."

"Oerba Yun Fang, but just call me Fang," she said. "Do you know how long I was asleep?"

"Well, the city of Oerba died about 500 years ago, so I'd say you've been asleep for a while longer than that."

"Oerba…is gone? No, it's not possible!" she said in disbelief. I didn't blame her. I would be sad if I found out my people had gone extinct.

"It is possible, and we need to get you out of here to get medical attention. I have no idea what effect it will have on you, coming out of crystal stasis like that," I said as I hoisted her up on my shoulder.

"Before we go, can you hand me my staff over there," she said, pointing toward the long, red weapon. I reached for it and placed it in her hand. "Thank you. I can stand by myself." I wanted to protest, but I let her stand anyway.

"Are you sure you're ok?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she said. Suddenly, we heard something from down the hall.

"Looks like we have company," Squall said as he drew his gunblade, Revolver. Three monstrous creatures appeared from the darkness. They had human faces, but super-deformed bodies made of crystal. "Those are Cie'th! Fang, can you fight?"

"Of course I can fight," she said. The three of us attacked the monsters before they could reach us. With our combined effort, they were easily dispatched.

"You were great for a girl who's been asleep for five centuries," Squall said. "We could really use you on Radiant Garden. Do you want to come with us?"

She bit her lip as she thought about it. "Well, I don't have anywhere else to go, so I guess I could. But I still need to find Vanille. If anything ever happened to that kid…" she trailed off.

"She'll turn up," I said. "Once we get back to Radiant Garden, we'll send a search party here to locate her." I turned to Squall. "Vincent and Red XIII should be able to track anyone down, even here, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "If this Vanille is still alive, they'll find her."

We took Fang back to Ansem's castle. He agreed to give her a room until we could find a house for her. "You've been really hospitable to me," Fang said as I led her to the room. "You know you don't have to do this."

"I want to," I said. "I couldn't just leave you behind. "And when my friends find Vanille, she can stay here too."

"Vanille…are you sure she's alright?" Fang asked. She was so worried about her. I could tell they had a similar bond like what I shared with Evan back home.

"If she's anything like you, she's got to be safe," I said. "You took down those Cie'th things very well."

"Thanks, but I'd have been a goner if it weren't for you and Squall," she said.

"Yeah, well, we couldn't just leave you there," I said.

"True. I probably would have done the same for you if you were in my position," Fang said as she walked toward the window. "It sure is a beautiful view, those mountains."

"Yeah, but there are many other worlds that offer even more beautiful sights," I said. I stood close to her, closer than I even intended to be. "I go to them often to be alone and think about things."

"You've got a lot of baggage, don't you?" she asked, reading me like it was written all over my face. "I pride myself in being able to read people, and I can see you're a troubled man."

I sighed and took a sudden interest in the floor. My black hair fell down, hiding my face for the most part. "There's a lot of things I don't want to talk about," I said. "I've seen…many horrible things, being a time traveler and all."

"You can travel through time? Sounds fun," she said.

"Trust me, Fang. It's more of a curse than anything else, but curiosity usually gets the best of me," I said. "I've seen many things. I've seen a young girl, who I will meet in about nine years, die because of her Darkness, I've also seen a possible scenario where she lives, but is trapped in another heart. But there are some things I don't regret seeing. Like, I saw my friend give birth to two beautiful twins, one boy and one girl. In a few, short years, there will be another catastrophe like the invasion of the Heartless, but this threat will be from another dimension."

"John, are you sure you're even supposed to know these things, let alone tell me?" she asked. Honestly, I wasn't sure either.

"I have no idea, but if the world goes into chaos because I told you some events in a very vague way, then I can always come back to this time and shut myself up," I said, laughing. "If you see another me pop up and slap myself in the face, don't be alarmed." Soon, we were both laughing and all tension in the room from my reflections faded away. Fang…she was so easy to be around.

"I guess you could," she said. "Thank you, by the way."

"For what?" I asked.

"For finding me," she said. "If you hadn't gotten to me, those Cie'th would have either smashed my crystal or killed me when I woke up."

"You're welcome," I said. "Actually, we found you because the energy from your crystal was so powerful. Squall thought you were some kind of hidden power source before he found out you were a l'Cie."

"Yeah, our crystals are powerful. All that sealed magic radiates from them," she said.

"But he would have never done it after learning you were alive," I said. I took a closer look at Fang and noticed things I hadn't before. The tattoo on her left shoulder, how her hair seemed to be chaos and control all at the same time.

Fang and I stood there and looked out at the landscape. "I can't stay here for long," she finally spoke up.

"Why not?" I asked, looking at her and seeing a pained expression.

Fang sighed. "I woke up from my crystal stasis, so the Fal'Cie must still need me," she said. "I know I have another Focus to fulfill, but I just don't know what it could be."

"And there's no way to get out of this deal?" I asked, thinking about all our options.

"None that I know of," she said. "It would take a powerful sorcerer to break this."

"Well, I do know one," I said. "He lives in this town, so I can take you to him quickly."

"You'd do that for me, a total stranger?" she asked.

"Well, you're not a total stranger anymore," I said. "Come on, I'll take you to Merlin."

Fang followed me through a Corridor of Darkness into the main town in front of Merlin's house. I knocked on the door twice and stood back. I heard feet shuffle to the door and the knob turned. "Why, who could be bothering me at such a late hour?" Merlin mumbled, appearing half-asleep. He opened his eyes more and finally recognized me. "Oh, Johnny, my boy. Is everything well with you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Hey, I was wondering if you could help my friend here." I motioned to Fang.

"I'm Fang, from Gran Pulse," she said.

"Nice to meet you Fang," he said, dusting off his hat. "What's you're trouble?"

"She's a l'Cie," i said. "We need you to try and break the hold that the Fal'Cie of her world has on her. Think you can do it?"

"Well, it may be a bit tricky, but I think I have the exact spell for that," he said. "Come on inside and make yourselves comfortable." We entered Merlin's house and sat down on the chairs next to his table. I watched him pour through piles of books, searching for just the right spell to break Fang's curse. He eventually found the correct spell. "Alright, this might sting a little, but that is because I'm removing all the magic they placed in you to control you."

"I have a high pain tolerance, Merlin," she said with a grin. "Hit me with all you got."

Merlin raised his wand and cast the spell on Fang. She winced in pain and bit her lip. The spell made a blue light envelop her body until she was barely visible. When the light cleared, her l'Cie brand had become nothing more than a scar and we knew she was finally free. "There, that ought to do it," Merlin said, admiring his work. "If you still see visions of your Focus, come and find me again."

"Thank you Merlin," she said. "And thank you John."

"No problem," I said. "Wanna go back home now?"

Fang thought for a second. "Hmm, nah. I wanna see more of these worlds you were talking about earlier," she said, smiling the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.

I raised my hand and made a Corridor of Darkness to the Destiny Islands. "Well, I know just the place to start," I said before leading her into the first step of our future together.


End file.
